A stronger Microsoft Edge Sandbox with Windows 10 Creators Update

Microsoft has planned a large no. of changes and new features to be released with Windows 10 Creators Update. They bringing more improvements and a set of new features to Microsoft Edge too. To be specific, they are strengthening the Microsoft Edge Sandbox to make Edge more secure and keep it protected against hackers.

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft plans to implement some new Edge sandbox security measures to make it harder to exploit sandbox vulnerabilities. Using a tightened Microsoft Edge content process sandbox model will make it harder to exploit vulnerabilities.

Here are some of the benefits of the upcoming improvements:

100% reduction access to MUTEXes: allow a process to lock up a resource, causing hangs.

90% reduction in access to WinRT and DCOM APIs: this is the large win here, dramatically reducing Microsoft Edgeâ€™s attack surface against the WinRT API set.

70% reduction access to events and symlinks: symlinks are especially interesting, because they are often used in creative bait & switch attacks to escape sandboxes.

40% reduction in access to devices: Windows supports many device drivers, and their quality is somewhat beyond Microsoftâ€™s control. The tuned sandbox cuts off access to any device that Microsoft Edge does not explicitly need, preventing attackers from using vulnerabilities in device drivers to escape, or from abusing the devices.

These improvements will make it harder for hackers to exploit Microsoft Edge by increasing the time and effort needed to break Microsoftâ€™s security measures.